History Music / TheProtomen

* HarsherInHindsight: The entire song in light of Act II. In particular, from the liner notes:
-->''Light notices a tear streaming down the dorsum of his hand and feels a breathtaking weight in his chest. What is this? Frustration? Humiliation? Hatred? Certainly, these are there too.''
-->''But no, this is more than that. These emotions are his ''life''. He has lived with them for so long that they no longer affect him. Over the years he has learned to fight them, then to ignore them, and finally channel them into his work, his creation, his machine, his son.''

* HarsherInHindsight: Light's impassioned "YOU ARE ALL THAT I HAVE LEFT", in light of Act II, becomes even more chilling.
** As does "They have chosen their own end."

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming:
--> '''Megaman:''' "Even here, it is not safe...Even this grave has been defaced. Someone has written here, on this stone...in some angry hand... Hope rides alone!"
--> '''Light:''' "''You have heard me tell this story many times before you sleep. No matter how dark this city gets...even now, there's'' hope ''for man...''"

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The entire song.

* MoralEventHorizon: The ''crowd'' gets one for making Megaman kill his brother, right after he tells them all to grow a pair and fight back. Then, after Protoman is killed, the crowd asks Megaman ''why he's crying for his death'' and then proclaim that "''You'' are our hero!"
** Wily crosses it in this album when he orders the deaths of hundreds of his citizens ''just for watching''.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: "BUBBLE MAN!"

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Emily's speech is one big "Fuck You" directed at Albert Wily. Too bad it doesn't end well...

* MoralEventHorizon: Wily ordering Emily's death and watching her die simply because she chose Light over him. He even admits there's no turning back in ''The Hounds'' (See OutDamnedSpot below).

* MoralEventHorizon: Continuing from his killing of Emily, Wily further cements his status as an irredeemable villain by pinning Emily's murder on Light, and ''taunting'' him for his inability to escape his fate.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The manner in which Protoman dies.
--> "They watched them beat him, they watched them break him..."
** The music video on the website makes it even ''worse''. Among other things, Protoman gets hit so hard his jaw breaks off, and has his ''face'' electrocuted.

* NightmareFuel: The extended version's ending.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Aside from calling for a hanging, the crowd wants to ''dismember'' Light.
--> ''Give us his hands! Give us his feet!''
* NightmareFuel: The crowd calls for Light to be hung, even after he was found innocent.

* NightmareFuel: The heartbeat at the end. What happens to the city is scary, too.

* NightmareFuel: As Light speaks in the beginning, there's high-pitched, siren-like synthesizer waves representing Wily's control.

* TearJerker: While the song is sad in and of itself, the demo version has more of an emphasis on vocals, and is more dramatic.

* TearJerker: Light's lines echo Emily's last words, as revealed in ''Father of Death''.

* TearJerker: "In the meantime, please be careful. This world is getting darker all the time. I weep at the thought of something terrible happening to you. I could not bear it. All my love, Tom."

* TearJerker: Emily's last words.
-->'''Emily:''' No matter how dark this City gets, there will be--

* TearJerker: The song itself is ''sad'', and Light seems driven to tears at several points.

* TearJerker: Don't turn your back on the City.

* TearJerker:
--> '''Light:''' "Well, a ''friend'' once told me men, they would follow any man who would turn the wheels..."

* TearJerker: The contents of Emily's letter.
** "This is not the world my father knew...This is not the world I know...he would've wanted me to build."
** And his aforementioned request of Joe.

* CarCushion: How Dr. Light escapes the police, breaking his arm in the process.

** The music video on the website makes it even ''worse''.

* ImproivsedWeapon: Joe finds a pipe to use against the Sniper. It...doesn't help much.

* TragicFuneral: Emily has no family, and her coworkers are too busy with work to attend and the Priest's words are drowned out by Wily's broadcast anyways.

* AsLongAsThereIsOneMan: Even after how much humanity had dissapointed Protoman, and regardless of how much he says humans deserve the fate they've given he still whispers at the end "If these people... tell this story... to their children... as they sleep... maybe someday... they'll see a Hero... is just a man... who knows he is free."

* MadeOfExplodium: Joe's motorcycle. [[FridgeBrilliance Unless it had a bomb attached to it, too]]...

* GeniusBonus: Joe disguises as the "sniper robot".

* [=~Chekhov's Gun~=]: Emily's letter to Thomas, which isn't heard of again until the very end, when he reads it before his impending doom and strengthens his will to continue the fight against Wily.

* MoralEventHorizon: Continuing from his killing of Emily, Wily further cements his status as an irredeemable villian by pinning Emily's murder on Light, and ''taunting'' him for his inability to escape his fate.

* TearJerker: While the song is sad in and of itself, the demo version has more of an emphasis on vocals, and is melodramatic.

** According to the liner notes, nobody saw who fired the shot that killed Protoman, so it may not have been Megaman after all...

* MoralEventHorizon: If it's possible to cross this twice, Wily does so by pinning Emily's murder on Light, and ''taunting'' him for his inability to escape his fate.

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Starting here, and ending at the Fall, the tracks have a recurring heartbeat sound.

* BadassBoast: Essentially the entire song is this: it consists of Joe facing down "Light's Monster", the single being that's been keeping the ''entire city'' terrified into submission, and telling it that that's not gonna work on him, and demanding that it put its own life on the line if it wants to take him down. Then he kills it. (Well, he beats it half to death and then lets Dr. Light administer the killing blow after it's no longer any threat).
* BadassNormal: Joe, as described below.

** If you listen hard enough during the reading of Emily's letter, you can faintly hear Light ''sobbing''.

* MagnificentBastard: Gains dominance over the public mind by pinning a murder he committed on his only plausible rival, check. Embraces villainy in the process, check. Sounds awesome doing it? Double check.

* GetItOverWith: Dr. Light, again. Notice that you only hear the ''miners''. Not ''once'' does Light bother to protest.

* RousingSpeech: In song form.

** Which makes it even worse when you realize the ForegoneConclusion...

* VisionaryVillain

** Which immediately segues into the [[ForeShadowing somewhat ominous]] line "And with this spark it's gonna be the biggest fire they've ever seen."

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The manner in which Protoman died.

* VetinariParadox: Wily is counting on the invaluable nature of machines to make his rule absolute.

* [[StupidSexyFlanders Stupid Sexy Wily]]: Just look at the comments this song gets on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcDoZnN8ac YouTube]]